Bad News For Tennis Fans

TV/RADIO

June 04, 1993|By SONNY DEARTH Daily Press

Attention, tennis fans: You have bad news and good news.

Most people like hearing the bad news first, so here it goes. Once again, the French Open women's title match - this year between Steffi Graf and surprise finalist Mary Joe Fernandez - won't be shown live. The match will take place during the east coast's morning hours Saturday, but it won't come on NBC until noon.

The French Open women's final isn't getting the respect it deserves. It will be the only one of the eight Grand Slam singles title matches not shown live this year.

NBC does the men's and women's finals on ``Breakfast at Wimbledon,'' CBS will show both U.S. Open finals live, and ESPN aired both Australian Open finals as they occurred.

Here's more bad news, though for a better reason: The men's final, to be seen live on WAVY-TV 10 at 9 a.m. Sunday, won't be on Richmond's NBC affiliate, WWBT-TV 12, until midnight on a tape-delayed basis. The Children's Miracle Network Telethon will pre-empt WWBT's live coverage.

Now for the good news: HBO, which has done its Wimbledon coverage on a tape-delayed basis for 18 years, will show live action during the tournament's first week, plus its usual taped coverage from Monday through Friday during both weeks this year. The tournament begins June 21.

The daily times of HBO's live Wimbledon coverage will mirror ESPN's regular French Open coverage - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

HBO regulars Jim Lampley, Billie Jean King and Barry MacKay will be on the air, as well as newcomer John Lloyd, the former British star player and ex-husband of Chris Evert.

CARNEVALE. Williamsburg native Mark Carnevale is this week's host of ESPN's ``Inside the PGA Tour,'' a 30-minute show that features highlights from men's pro golf.

The show already has run twice, and its final airing will be Sunday at 9 a.m.

``He did a really good job. We were really pleased,'' show producer Mark Friedman said of Carnevale, who won a tour event last year in Chattanooga, Tenn.

HOCKEY. ESPN must be delighted that an American team - the big-market Los Angeles Kings and megastar Wayne Gretzky, no less - is in the Stanley Cup final against Montreal. If Toronto had beaten the Kings, fewer Americans would have tuned in to what would have been an all-Canadian title series.

ESPN has done a thorough job preparing for the finals, and it often has employed the benefits of slow motion. Since hockey is faster than almost any other sport, it frequently takes slow motion for fans to discern the important elements of a key play.

WHAT'S BIGGER, BRUCE? A recent sports segment of WAVY's late-night local news, which followed the Bulls' crucial 97-94 victory against the Knicks in Wednesday's Game 5, was a little puzzling.

The first item mentioned was the Norfolk Tides' 7-4 home triumph against the Richmond Braves. That was understandable, since attendance has risen and the Tides have been winning consistently lately.

But the timing of the next item, a report on 7-foot-6 star center Shawn Bradley's return from his Mormon mission in Australia, was puzzling. The segment may have to deserved to be on the show, but Bradley won't be drafted until June 30. No way that tidbit should have preceded a report on the Bulls-Knicks game - one of the NBA's biggest in recent years.

When starting to talk about the showdown, sports anchor Bruce Rader committed a brief gaffe by saying, ``Let me take you to Chicago.'' He needed to take us a few hundred miles east, since the game was in New York's Madison Square Garden.